Celebrating The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight: Blog Tour AND International Giveaway

January 4, 2012

YOU GUYS! I’m wicked excited to be celebrating the release of The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith and am in some EXCELLENT company too, with this blog tour. See the GINORMOUS BUTTON BELOW!

I bet you are curious about an evening in the life of Jennifer E. Smith, so Jennifer why don’t you show us what an evening in your life is like?

6pm – I’m having drinks with some editor friends around the corner from my office. It’s nice to unwind at the end of the day with my colleagues.

7pm – After a quick drink, I head off to meet some non-publishing friends for dinner, which is nice too. They’re friends from college, and we meet at a fun restaurant downtown, and spend the night catching up, since I haven’t seen them in a few weeks.

8pm – Still at dinner, but we wrap up earlier than usual tonight. It’s mid-week and we’re all exhausted, so we say goodbye and promise to email each other the next day to put another date on the calendar.

9pm – I take the subway back uptown to my apartment, where my dog is ridiculously excited to see me. He has a dogwalker who takes him out in the afternoons, but it’s always nice to come home to him at the end of a long day. I take him out for a short walk around the block, then watch a little bit of TV.

10pm – I check my email before I go to bed, just to catch up on a few book-related things, responding to my editor and my publicist. The thing about working full-time while writing is that you end up cramming the book stuff into random parts of the day. I set aside a full day to write at least once a week, but it’s the other stuff that can be a little bit hard to maintain – social networking, keeping up with emails, approving copy, etc. But it all gets done somehow…

11pm – I usually get into bed around now. Sometimes I read a little bit – not for work, but for fun. Other times I just listen to music or call my sister before going to sleep.

12am – I’m a terrible sleeper. Most days, I have so many thoughts whirling around in my head that it can take me hours to fall asleep, and even then, I’m usually up a couple of times in the night. I have to keep a pad of paper by my bed to write down all the random thoughts that seem to only crop up when I’d much rather be sleeping.

1am – Finally asleep.

2am – Up with an idea for how to fix something that’s been bothering me in my work in progress.

3am – Asleep again. Even though the dog is snoring.

4am – Still sleeping. Even though my upstairs neighbor is inexplicably awake and seems to be walking around his apartment with unnecessarily loud boots on.

5am – At this point, the dog usually decides he’s ready to go to the park. It doesn’t ever matter to him that I’m not, in fact, ready. Or awake. For the next hour or so, he will go through a routine that involves jumping up onto the bed and nudging at my blanket, then sitting back and wagging his tail, then running to the window and whining. After repeating that a few times, he usually gives up and simply stares at me for another half hour or so, until I finally drag myself out of bed to start the day.

Yet, even after knowing all about Jennifer’s evening, my curiosity was still not satisfied and I was left with some BURNING questions, which she graciously answered.

1. One of the characters, Oliver, in The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight is English. I just love an English accent. What is your favorite accent?

I love English accents too, but my favorite is definitely the Scottish accent. I went to grad school at St. Andrews, and made a lot of Scottish friends. I had no problem understanding them while I was living over there, but somehow, when I talk to them now, I’m always completely lost for the first part of the conversation. It’s like they’re speaking another language. It always takes me a little while to get used to it again, which makes me laugh, but I have to say, it’s a great accent.

2. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is a contemporary young adult novel, which is a fantastic genre. What are a few of your favorite contemporary novels?

I don’t know if these count as contemporaries, since they’re a little bit older now, but two of my all-time favorites are Bridge to Terabithia and Where the Red Fern Grows. More recently, I really enjoyed If I Stay and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and I’m also a huge fan of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

3. I really LOVE the cover of The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight. However, the title, although a mouthful, sticks out as well. Which do you think is more important, Title or Cover?

I think they’re both incredibly important. It will definitely be interesting to see what kind of effect e-books have on the impact of book jackets as we go forward, but for now, there are no two bigger selling tools for publishers. I feel really lucky to have had such a great designer for this book. The jacket manages to capture the feel of the story so well. It’s cinematic and romantic and just really unique. Plus it was no small feat to fit such a long title on there!

4. Finally, do you truly believe in love at first sight?

I do. I have to admit that I never really thought about it much before I wrote this book, but as you might imagine, it now seems to come up quite a lot, and I’d like to believe it’s possible. (Though I still can’t tell you the exact statistical probability…)

WOW, you made it all the way to the bottom! Which means, dear reader friend, you deserve a reward. I have a gently read review copy of The Statistical Probability Of Love At First Sight up for grabs. To win my copy, just tell me in the comments if you believe in love at first sight. This contest is open internationally, I’ll draw a winner on January 10th and announce the winner on this post.

April is 30 years old and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and baby, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

I believe in lust at first sight. Haha. And interest at first sight. I once paused on the curb of a street (in Fiji) and my eyes locked with the passenger of a car that was stopped at a red light: I could have sworn we were soul mates (I was fifteen, every other guy was my soulmate) but the lights changed, the car drove by and I never saw him again. :\ So while I think that there can be interest at first, love needs some nurturing. (Sorry for the ramble.)

I definitely believe in love at first sight, however, I don’t think that one should wait around for it. I met my soulmate, but because I was waiting around for that love at first sight feeling, I almost missed him.

I’m pretty much with Nafiza on the love at first sight thing. There definitely can be attraction at first sight–but love? Nah. I do like reading about the possibility in books, though. And this one sounds really adorable. 🙂

Thanks for the giveaway! I enjoyed the interview, and Scottish accents are my favorite as well. 😀

Well yes, yes I do believe in love at first sight. It’s actually happen back when I was just in Junior High School, and I saw this senior in the hall. I simply went crazy for the first time I met him, and after that I became this girl who only admires him whenever he pass me in school. But it’s just a stupid old crush though, he’s already graduated now.

I love that you get the evening/night & the other blogs gets the daytime! So fun! 🙂

And no. I don’t believe in love at first sight. Attraction, yes. Interest, yes. But love? Not at all. And, maybe people will get pissy at me for saying this, but I honestly don’t think you understand what LOVE means if you believe you can be in love with a person the first time you see them. That’s not what love it.

So… No. No such thing as love at first sight, although I do believe that you can be really drawn to a person right from the beginning. But that’s not real love.

Hmm..I don’t know if I believe in love at first sight..it has never happened with me but I don’t know about others.Maybe its just a feeling of rightness you get when you’re with the other person.But I hope everyone finds true love sometime or the other whether its love at first sight or not 🙂

I do believe in very strong attraction at first sight, but not love. Love takes time, getting to know someone and that just does’t happen with a single glance. That said, me and the boyfriend did have very strong attraction at first sight which was wonderful as well and turned into love 🙂
Thanks so much for the giveaway!

I’d like to believe in love in first sight because I’m a real romantic at heart and I love the whole eyes locking across a room thing. If it is real it’s not happened to me yet, I shall remain hopeful.

If i probably did believe in Love at first sight, I’d have has hundreds of boyfriends by now (which sadly, still remains at a big 0). But yeah, I guess. A guy I’ve liked for a year now started with “the first sight” so I’m guessing, sure, why not?
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!

If I believe in love at first sight? No. Love means to know someone personally. It means staying around long enough to know all his strong points and all his flaws, his likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses. Real love takes time. But I do believe in lust at first sight. 🙂

However, me not believing in love at first sight doesn’t necessarily
mean I don’t get all dreamy-eyed when reading about it (as long as the love story’s not all sappy and corny).

Sadly, no, I don’t believe in love at first sight. I do believe in attraction at first sight, and that could be the beginning of something…but love takes a while. Thanks for the giveaway! I really am looking forward to reading this one.

I believe in “like” at first sight, if that makes any sense^^!!
When my best friend saw her boyfriend for the very first time she knew that she wanted to be with him, but the love came later when they were together for a while. Now they are together for seven years.

And I think you can´t fall in love with a person, when you don´t know his personality. And in order to do that you have to get to know each other.

I truly do not know. I do and I don’t. It just really depends on the person and where it takes place. A few years back, I was on vacation and I met a lot of guy friends. And every single one of them fell in love with me… it’s really awkward to think about. Every single one of them was looking at me like I was a star or something o_O.

When I first saw my husband I had a really strong feeling like we were meant to be together. After only a couple days, I already knew I loved him. We have now been together for 11 years, so I guess I would say I do believe.

Ooh. Scottish accents. I’ve GOT to agree on that one. I’m getting kind of bored of Brits…(no offence to any male Englanders, though! I’ll listen to you anytime!)

I don’t know if I believe in love at first sight. I’m always skeptical about insta-love in books, but in real life? No idea. I’ve never been anywhere close to in love. I definitely WANT to believe in it, though…

I don’t believe in love at first sight. I think you grow to love people after being with them. You sorta have to learn to love. I think you can look at someone and like them but you shouldn’t confuse it for love.

I do actually believe in love at first sight. (Not the “Oh my gosh, see that hot guy? I LOVE HIM!” kind.) When I went on my first date with the guy who is now my husband, I knew after an hour that I had to see him again, after two hours I really liked him, and after four hours I was kind of in love. So yeah, it happens..:)

i do
i so want to…… theres a reason for all those songs and stories
i hope it happens to me too..[a plane wud be good]
u just know when ur meant to be
i luveed the interview cool and especially the ‘a day in the life’ thing
i lol at some parts

Hello Reader Friends!

I’m April and am absolutely delighted you stopped by.

You know that person who always has a book in their purse and a glass of wine on hand? THAT’S ME.

In my free time I can be found binge watching The Office with my husband and baby, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring my neighborhood. I’m so excited to chat with you about all the books we’re reading and listening to.